A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked southeastern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing more than 1,900 people. Hundreds were still believed to be trapped under rubble, and the toll was expected to rise as rescue workers searched mounds of wreckage in cities and towns across the area.
On both sides of the border, residents jolted out of sleep by the pre-dawn quake rushed outside on a cold, rainy and snowy winter night, as buildings were flattened and strong aftershocks continued.
Rescue workers and residents in multiple cities searched for survivors, working through tangles of metal and giant piles of concrete. A hospital in Turkey collapsed and patients, including newborns, were evacuated from a handful of facilities in Syria.
"Because the debris removal efforts are continuing in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we do not know how high the number of dead and injured will rise," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised address. "Our hope is that we recover from this disaster with the least loss of life possible."
In the Turkish city of Adana, one resident said three buildings near his home collapsed.
"I don't have the strength anymore," one survivor could be heard calling out from beneath the rubble as rescue workers tried to reach him, said the resident, journalism student Muhammet Fatih Yavus.
Farther east in Diyarbakir, cranes and rescue teams rushed people on stretchers out of a mountain of pancaked concrete floors that was once an apartment building.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured Monday's quake at 7.8. At least 20 aftershocks followed.
Quake adds to misery in war-torn region
The USGS said the quake was centred about 33 kilometres from Gaziantep, a Turkish provincial capital. It was 18 kilometres deep. Hours later, a 7.5-magnitude quake struck more than 100 kilometres away. An official from Turkey's disaster management agency, Orhan Tatar, said it was a new earthquake, not an aftershock, though its effects were not immediately clear. Hundreds of aftershocks were expected after the two temblors, Tatar said.
More than 1,100 people were killed in 10 Turkish provinces, with some 7,600 injured, according to the country's disaster management agency.
International offers of aid
Countries including Russia, Germany and Israel offered to send help, whether medical supplies, search teams or money.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said members of the alliance were mobilizing support to help Turkey deal with the aftermath, with the European Union also saying it planned to mobilize aid.